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“Wait a minute. You want me to fill this out?”
“Write the amount of money you need, no matter how many zeros.” “You can‘t be serious.”
“I am. Remember that my brother and I are the third wealthiest men in the whole world. I think I‘m the third and Heber‘s the fourth because he‘s right there with me. Everybody knows who we are. Everyone loves our products. If you write a million dollars in that check, that‘ll be nothing. Even that is chump change for me. I‘m going to tell you because I trust you. My personal fortune exceeds seven hundred million dollars, and it grows more and more every day.”
“I don‘t need a million dollars,” Constantine said as he filled out the check. “I know that one day I will make that amount of money on my own.” He showed Haggai the check. Haggai was surprised. Constantine only wrote in ten thousand dollars. “That should be enough for food, bills and mortgage this month. Oh, and clothing and products of personal hygiene…”
“Are you sure this is going to be enough for all of that?” Heber looked at the check and then looked back at Constantine. Then, he pulled out his own wallet and his own checkbook.
“Ten thousand dollars…? Of course it‘s going to be enough. Oh, no, wait, Heber, not you, too?”
“Why not?” said Heber doing what Haggai did with his checkbook moments before.
“…Because I said ten grand is enough.”
“Write the check.”
“But…”
“It‘s my checkbook. It‘s my money. I do what I want with it. When I offer something to someone, I never take no for an answer.”
“I can see that,” said Constantine.
“Ok, then, write the check for the amount that you need.”
In a few minutes, Constantine wrote Heber‘s check for ten thousand dollars more and then gave it to Heber to sign. “Ok, guys, I hope that‘s enough for you because that‘s all I want, and I only wrote the other check because Heber wouldn‘t take no for an answer, like he said.”
Both checks were signed and Constantine put them in his wallet in a matter of minutes. “Ok, now, how long do I have to pay you back, and what will be the monthly amounts?” Haggai and Heber looked at one another and burst out laughing so hard that for a moment
there, they sounded like hyenas.
Smiling and flabbergasted, Constantine said, “Come on, guys, this isn‘t funny. Write up the document for me that states how long I have to pay and what the monthly amounts are.”
“This isn‘t a loan,” Haggai said and Heber burst out laughing again. “What did you say?” Constantine heard him but he couldn‘t believe it. “I said this is not a loan.”
“…But it has to be. I am not accepting twenty thousand dollars just like that. To me, that‘s a huge amount of money, and it would break anybody‘s bank. Guys, I‘m serious, please do what I asked.”
“All right,” Heber said and went to get his laptop. “You want us to write up that document? Ok, we will. I‘m going to go get my computer right now. You won‘t accept the money unless we loan it to you rather than giving it to you? That‘s fine.” He walked out of the dining room. “I‘ll be right back.”
Constantine and Haggai started conversing again, just the two of them, while they ate their breakfast. Twenty minutes later, Heber came back with the document in his hand that